Woman whose son drowned at low-head dam offered comfort to waiting family

One of the two men whose boat capsized Thursday is accompanied by a woman as he looks over the Conewago Creek toward the low-head dam where the incident took place. Crews were still looking for his fellow boater during a second day of searching Friday on the Conewago Creek, on the border of Washington Township and Dover Township. As of late Friday, the other man was still missing, and crews had changed their efforts from a rescue to a recovery. There was not yet a plan in place if the search would continue Saturday, but a skeleton crew on boats monitored the creek until nightfall. (Kate Penn - Daily Record/Sunday News)

About 500 yards from where rescue crews continued their search for a man who went missing Thursday in the Conewago Creek, friends and family sat together Friday waiting for updates. Janet Keller of Dover, whose son, Joe, drowned at a low-head dam 20 years ago, said that when she heard that a rowboat went over the dam, she wanted to comfort those affected knowing their pain.

"I was lucky enough to sit beside my son in the hospital," Keller said. "I can't imagine what they're going through. I told them I was sorry and we talked about low-head dams and why we need to get rid of them."

Keller said that after her son's death she took it upon herself to get rid of the dangerous dams often called "drowning machines" by fire officials. And four years after her son's death, Keller said legislation was passed to require warning signs to be placed near the dams.

Friday's rescue efforts had switched from a rescue to a recovery.

That meant instead of looking for a survivor, the rescuers were searching the Conewago Creek for a body.

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The man, a 41-year-old Wellsville resident, and a friend had put into the creek to do some fishing Thursday afternoon. Within moments of entering the creek, their aluminum johnboat went over a low-head dam, about a quarter-mile downstream from the Davidsburg Road bridge.

The friend got out.

The victim did not.

Volunteers walk together back from searching near the dam at Conewago Creek. (Sonya Paclob - Daily Record/Sunday News)

The search, called off Thursday night when storms swept into the area, resumed at 7:15 Friday morning. A state police helicopter flew low and slow over the creek, from the dam downstream for about three or four miles. Volunteer firefighters hiked the creek's banks, searching from land. Boat crews did not enter immediately, hoping to maintain the visibility in the creek lest the boats churn up silt.

Christine Miller, a friend of the victim, along with his girlfriend, arrived at the scene early with some other friends, hoping to assist in the search. They were kept back, though, out of liability concerns, she said.

"I woke up this morning and came down to see what I could do to help," she said. "It's very frustrating."

She said the man and his girlfriend, who was present at the scene Friday, had been together 12 years and that the girlfriend was distraught.

"He was a lover," she said. "He was a great guy. (His girlfriend) needs support and I came down here to support her."

Motorists on Davidsburg Road were slowing down as they drove by the scene, many of them recording videos of the ambulances and television satellite trucks.

Dover Township deputy fire chief Brian Widmayer said the men entered the creek between the two warning signs mandated by the state Fish and Boat Commission to caution boaters of the dangers of low-head dams.

They would have only seen the sign that was about 50 feet upstream, and with the creek running fast and high from recent rains, it wasn't enough warning, Widmayer said.

Dale Mateer, a volunteer with New Cumberland River Rescue, searches along the banks of Conewago Creek. (Sonya Paclob - Daily Record/Sunday News)

"When they saw the sign," he said, "it was too late."

The low-head dam was built in 1932 during the Great Depression, said Glenn Julius, who owns 120 acres of farmland next to the creek. Julius, 92, was driving an ATV around the property and said there has not been an incident similar to this since he's lived there. His family, who was maneuvering large tractors among the ambulances and Red Cross vehicle, continued to work on the farm, which produces beef cows, corn and hay.

There has been talk of taking the dam out, but landowners have objected, saying it would alter the character of the creek. The area behind the dam is a good fishing spot — small-mouth bass and walleye — and in the winter, when it freezes over, families ice skate on it.

Yet, low-head dams present a hazard for boaters.

"This dam," Widmayer said, "you can tell it's dangerous. The water churning (in its wake) is very loud and violent. You can see debris turning over in the water."

Widmayer said rescue crews had exhausted almost all of their options in the two-day search.

Late Friday afternoon, a Pennsylvania State Police officer arrived at the scene with sonar equipment, which was brought to the area from New Jersey.

Earlier, East Berlin rescue crews were using a submersible camera at the dam, Widmayer said. Two boats were tied down by rope below the dam, and one rescuer on shore watched the camera feed from a TV screen, directing the person with the camera on the boat.

A skeleton crew on boats monitored the creek until nightfall, and as of 9:30 p.m., Widmayer said there were no plans to continue the search Saturday.